Region 7 News Room

Press ReleaseThursday, March 3, 2016Contact: CDC Media Relations(404) 639-3286Superbugs threaten hospital patients1 in 4 catheter- and surgery-related HAIs caused by six resistant bacteria in long-term hospitalsAmerica is doing a better job of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), but more work is needed – especially in fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Vital Signs report urges healthcare workers to use a combination of infection control recommendations to better protect patients from these infections.

A lot has happened in 2015 and healthcare officials have been kept pretty busy, to say the least. Great progress has been made, however and there is a lot we can appreciate from the previous year and look forward to in 2016. The following is a CDC perspective of what happened throughout 2015 and what they plan for this new year.

Image courtesy of www.medicaldaily.com and Reuters. // Vials of the Anthrax vaccine sit on the counter at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina waiting to be dispensed to Marines, January 24, 2003. REUTERS

On November 23, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new use of a vaccine called BioThrax. It is to be used in conjunction with an antibiotic to treat persons between 18 and 65 years old who have been infected by anthrax.

Antibiotic-resistant germs cause more than 2 million illnesses and at least 23,000 deaths each year in the US.Up to 70% fewer patients will get CRE over 5 years if facilities coordinate to protect patients.Preventing infections and improving antibiotic prescribing could save 37,000 lives from drug-resistant infections over 5 years.

The following is a CDC Press Release, sent on August 4, 2015.

Improved infection control and antibiotic prescribing could save 37,000 lives over five years

The latest CDC Vital Signs includes mathematical modeling that projects increases in drug-resistant infections and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) without immediate, nationwide improvements in infection control and antibiotic prescribing.

This time last year, a painful new virus was knocking on our doorstep. Travelers were bringing Chikungunya to the U.S. And eventually, the mosquito-borne virus set up shop in Florida. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says another nasty pathogen is hitching a ride to the U.S. with travelers: multidrug-resistant Shigella.